Muni’s on-time performance rate drops over first quarter of fiscal year

After two straight quarters with on-time arrival rates hovering near 75 percent, Muni’s performance slipped during the first quarter of this fiscal year.

The department’s transit vehicles recorded a 73.3 percent on-time arrival rate for the first three months of the 2009-10 fiscal year (July, August and September), a fall-off from the 74.4 and 74.5 percent rates recorded in the two previous fiscal quarters, according to Muni’s latest quarterly performance report.

While the 73.3 percent on-time rate is lower than the two previous quarters, if Muni keeps up the exact same standard for the next nine months it will match last year’s record performance. The 73.3 percent on-time performance rate compiled over the course of the 2008-09 fiscal year was the highest recorded mark in Muni’s history.

The department is still a long way off from matching its desired benchmark of 85 percent, which was established in 1999 when voters approved to expand the transit agency.